In Sweden and some
subcultures within
the English-speaking world, grog is a common description of drinks
not made to a recipe, but by mixing various kinds of alcohol and/or
soda, fruit juice or similar ingredients.

Grog has also been used as a metaphoric term for
a person's vices, as in the old Irish song "All
for Me Grog".

Origin and history

Humans discovered long ago that they
could not drink sea water, and
required significant quantities of fresh water
on extended voyages. Since they were unable to desalinate sea
water, fresh water was taken on board in casks but quickly developed
algae and became slimy.
Stagnant
water was sweetened with beer or wine to make it palatable which
involved more casks and was subject to spoilage. As longer voyages
became more common, the task of stowage became more and more
difficult and the sailors' then-daily ration of a gallon of beer
began to add up.

Following Britain's conquest of Jamaica in 1655, a
half pint or "2 gills" of rum gradually replaced beer and
brandy as the drink of
choice. Given to the sailor straight, this caused additional
problems, as some sailors would save up the rum rations for several
days, then drink them all at once. Due to the subsequent illness
and disciplinary problems, the rum was mixed with water. This both
diluted its effects, and
delayed its spoilage. A half pint, one cup, of rum mixed with
one quart of water and
issued in two servings before noon and after the end of the working
day became part of the official regulations of the Royal Navy in
1756 and lasted for more than two centuries. This gives a ratio of
4:1.

Citrus juice (usually lime or lemon juice) was
added to the recipe to cut down on the water's foulness. Although
they did not know the reason at the time, AdmiralEdward
Vernon's sailors were healthier than the rest of the navy, due
to the daily doses of vitamin C that
prevented disease (mainly scurvy). This custom, in time,
got the British the nickname limeys for the limes they
consumed.

It is very widely believed that the name "grog"
came from the nickname of Admiral Edward "Old Grog" Vernon, but
since the word appears in a book written by Daniel Defoe in 1718,
well before Admiral Vernon's West Indian career began, and 22 years
before his famous order to dilute the rum ration, this cannot be
so. Significantly, it is in the 1718 book (The Family Instructor,
Part II) a little former slave boy, Toby, from Barbados, who is the
character using the word, stating that "the black mans" in the West
Indies "make the sugar, make the grog, much great work, much weary
work all day long." Since Defoe had trading interests which gave
him connections at the great seaports of the day, it is likely that
he had heard the word used by similar visitors to Britain from the
West Indies. At any rate, the word seems to definitely have entered
English from the West Indies - it may have an African origin. It is
likely, therefore, that "Old Grog"'s nickname came from the drink,
rather than from his cloak and that his family put about the story
about the grogram cloak to cover up this minor shame. However,
while the word "grog" referring to rum antedates Vernon's rations,
the use of the word to refer to diluted rum may post-date
him.

The practice of serving grog twice a day was
carried over into the Continental
Navy and the U. S.
Navy.
Robert Smith, then
Secretary of the Navy, experimented with substituting native
rye
whiskey for the imported rum concoction. Finding the American
sailors preferred it, he made the change permanent. It is said his
sailors followed the practice of their British antecedents and took
to calling it "Bob Smith" instead of grog.

Although the American Navy ended the rum ration
on September 1,
1862, the
ration continued in the Royal Navy. The temperance
movements of the late 19th century began to change the attitude
toward drink and the days of grog slowly came to an end. In 1850
the size of the tot was halved to a quarter of a pint per day. The
issue of grog to Officers ended in 1881, and to Warrant Officers in
1918. On January 28,
1970 the
"Great Rum Debate" took place in the House
of Commons, and on July 31, 1970 the last pipe of
"Up Spirits" in the Royal Navy was heard and is referred today as
"Black Tot Day". (Although all ratings received an allowance of an
extra can of beer each day as compensation.)

Until the grog ration was discontinued in 1970,
Navy rum was 95.5 proof, or 47.75% alcohol; the usual ration was an
eighth of a pint, diluted 2:1 with water (3:1 until World War II).
Extra rum rations were provided for special celebrations, like
Trafalgar
Day, and sailors might share their ration with the cook or with
a messmate celebrating a birthday.

Over time the distribution of the rum ration
became encrusted with elaborate ritual. At 11am the boatswain’s
mate piped 'Up spirits,' the signal for the petty
officer of the day to climb to the quarterdeck and collect (1)
the keys to the spirit room from an officer, (2) the ship's
cooper,
and (3) a detachment of Royal
Marines. In procession, they unlocked the door of the spirit
room, and witnessed the pumping into a keg of one eighth pint of
rum for every rating and
petty officer on the ship aged 20 or more and not under punishment.
Two marines lifted the keg to the deck, standing guard while a file
of cooks from the petty officers' messes held out their jugs. The
sergeant of marines
poured the ration under direction of the chief steward, who
announced the number of drinking men present in each petty
officer's mess. The rest of the rum was mixed in a tub with two
parts water, becoming the grog provided to the ratings.

At noon the boatswain's mate piped "Muster for
rum", and the cooks from each mess presented with tin buckets. The
sergeant of marines ladled out the authorized number of “tots”
(half-pints) supervised by the petty officer of the day. The few
tots of grog remaining in the tub ('plushers') were poured into the
drains (“scuppers”)
visibly running into the sea.

The petty officers were served first, and
entitled to take their rum undiluted. The ratings drank their grog
in one long gulp when they finished their work around noon.

In the early stages of
British settlement in Australia, the word grog entered common
usage, to describe diluted, adulterated and sub-standard rum,
obtainable from sly-grog
shops. In the early decades of the Australian colonies such
beverages were often the only alcohol available to the working
class. Eventually in Australia, and New Zealand, the word grog came
to be used as a slang term for any alcoholic beverage.

In the modern civilian world, a drink that is
somewhat similar to grog is the fashionable mojito. Starting with the basic
recipe for "navy grog" and adding mint plus substituting carbonated
water in lieu of plain water creates a basic mojito. (However, the
details of an upscale mojito can be more complex.)

Honoring the 18th Century British Army
regimental mess and grog’s historical significance in the military,
the United
States Navy, United
States Air Force, and United
States Army carry on a tradition at its formal dining in
ceremonies whereby those in attendance who are observed to violate
formal etiquette are "punished" by being sent to “the grog” and
publicly drink from it in front of the attendees. The grog usually
consists of various alcoholic beverages mixed together, unappealing
to the taste, and contained in a toilet bowl. A non-alcoholic
variety of the grog is also typically available for those in
attendance who do not consume alcohol and can contain anything from
hot sauce to mayonnaise intended to make it unappealing to the
taste as well. Attendees may also be singled out and sent to "the
grog" for some good-natured ribbing and teasing.

Various Recipes

While many claim to make a traditional Navy grog
recipe, there are only several accepted forms. The Royal Navy's
grog recipe includes lemon juice, water, rum, and cinnamon. A
commonly-found recipe in the Caribbean includes water, light rum,
grapefruit juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, cinnamon, and
honey. In the Far East, the Japanese Navy is rumored to concoct a
much stronger variant primarily from sake and wasabi.